Now he’s won the Mercury, he hopes to forget all about it

Share via

On Wednesday night, James Blake won the Mercury Prize. His second album, Overgrown, topped the judging panel’s shortlist of 12 albums, which included offerings from Arctic Monkeys and Laura Mvula.

Between the £20,000 prize, the critical kudos and the free publicity, Blake has much to be happy about. Only, the following day, he was reading the papers and something struck him.

“I didn’t really expect to read such lukewarm articles about me,” he says. “I can’t think of one piece that was entirely positive. It was mostly journalists saying, ‘Well, he did win and congratulations to him, he seems very

Subscribe now

Login

Already a subscriber?

To see the full article you need to subscribe

Subscribe

Login

1/1

James Blake is determined to avoid the anxiety of trying to win the prize again

November 2 2013 Handout

James Blake is determined to avoid the anxiety of trying to win the prize again